Connecticut aquarium seeks volunteers to swim with 9-foot sharks
The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk has openings for volunteers interested in swimming with its 7-to-9-foot lemon and sand tiger sharks — insurance required.
Dive safety officer Brendan DeGrim tells ABC News that he’s looking to expand his “Volunteer Dive Team” which includes retirees, doctors, school employees and firefighters, who swim with the big fish and engage the public in exhibitions focused on the sometimes misunderstood sharks.
“We believe there are more folks like that out there,” DeGrim said.
The Connecticut aquarium hopes that volunteers will commit to at least a dozen shifts lasting four hours each, rather than swimming with sharks just once for bragging rights.
Divers are reportedly required to have an advanced open water certification and to have logged 25 hours in open water swims. They’ll also need Divers Alert Network insurance, CPR training and an OK from their doctor.
The dives will take place in the aquarium’s 110,000 gallon tank, which six sand tiger sharks and one lemon shark call home.
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Sharks.org describes lemon sharks as big and stocky predators that “have been involved in unprovoked incidents” in U.S. waters and can “become very aggressive toward divers if molested.”
That site describes the sand tiger shark as “generally placid, despite its ferocious appearance.”
